Life, one day at a time

Tag Archives: mountains

Thursday 8th March 2018, 7.15am (day 2,387)

Early flight home out of Tromsø. The first half-hour was spectacular: a panorama of seemingly endless white mountains, the tips tinted pink by the rising sun. Felt like asking for compensation from SAS as I had a rather grubby window beside my seat, but did manage to get a couple of tolerable shots. This one is impressive, first, because of the scale and prominence of the rocky towers on both peaks: measurable from the fact that the shadows cast by both are quite visible on the slopes behind (it’s clearer with the right-hand peak).

But I swear it was only later I realised how closely these resemble… well.. if you can’t see it, translate the title of the post out of Norwegian. Please tell me I’m not the only one that thinks this.

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Monday 2nd October 2017, 5.55pm (day 2,230)

“Come on a walk after work” my colleagues said, and it would, indeed, have been great, had any of them had the slightest idea where the paths were…. Still, at least there were some good photo opportunities.

The island of Ringvassøy lies north of Tromsø and now takes the record for the northernmost photo on this blog, and the northernmost place I have ever been, at approximately 69º 55′ N. The mountains look like I imagine Mordor might. It’s a place, northern Norway — that’s for sure.

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Saturday 30th September 2017, 12.45pm (day 2,228)

One thing that differentiates Norwegian mountain landscapes from their equivalents in Britain is that they are so colourful. There is no sheep farming round here so the vegetation can flower and fruit on the ground instead of being chomped if it dares to poke its head up. At higher altitudes the rocks are a forest of lichen, which is the only explanation I have for the blatantly light green colour of the mountain nearest the camera, Skarsfjellet. This picture was taken from near the summit of Tromsdalstinden, which is the mountain visible in the shot of the city that I took on my first visit in March: an obvious destination for a hike, and an obvious day on which to do it, a truly perfect one of sun and blue skies, more colour to the mix. And the aurora borealis this evening too. What’s not to like?

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Saturday 17th June 2017, 5.15pm (day 2,123)

A return to Tromsø after my first visit in March. Well above the Arctic Circle, I will comfortably see no darkness for the next few days. Expect a photo of the Midnight Sun at some point. But not tonight — the views from the final stages of the flight were too good. So I probably saw more snow than you did today, at least from a distance.

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Wednesday 8th March 2017, 2.25pm (day 2,022)

I guess when I pre-imagined the Arctic, this is what I thought it would look like. Skulsfjord has a cool name and sits in the northern part of Kvaløy (Whale Island), to the northwest of Tromsø. There are worse places to visit on a Wednesday afternoon.

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Monday 6th February 2017, 10.50am (day 1,992)

Three-day weekend, so went out on a walk before the weather deteriorated and I had to go back to work. Steel Knotts is only 1412 feet above sea level but asserts itself ruggedly among the taller fells all around.

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Thursday 29th September 2016, 12.25pm (day 1,862)

I accept I am lucky to have a job which allows me, some days anyway, to get paid for reading and thinking, and there’s no particular reason why I need to do those things in an office, or at home. Alfred Wainwright — a man who did know a thing or two about the Lake District — calls the view south from the Skiddaw range the best one there is, and I think there are more people who would agree with him than dispute this. Particularly today….

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Tuesday 21st June 2016, 12.05pm (day 1,762)

After over a week of it raining every day, today — the summer solstice — while not exactly sunny, was at least dry. I had a book needing reading for work, I took it on the trains and went for a short but rewarding walk around the head of Great Langdale. Bowfell, in the background, is 2,960 feet high, and not on the itinerary today, but I did get to the sugarloaf summit of Pike o’Stickle about half an hour after this picture was taken. Note the walkers on the top at this point.

Monday 28th March 2016, 1.30pm (day 1,677)

As its name suggests, Great Gable is the pyramid on the left, and one of the most well-kn0wn fells in the Lake District and/or England. Last time I went up it was in foul weather (on 29/7/12) and I am determined to return to it in blue skies, so it was not on my itinerary today — but it was the best looking object on my walk round the upper reaches of the valleys of Borrowdale and Gillercomb. Colder and greyer than it might have been, but I quite like this shot, taken from the nearby summit of Brandreth.

Saturday 9th May 2015, 1.30pm (day 1,353)

You didn’t think I was going to come all the way to Scotland to work and not get a walk in, did you? This is about an hour north of Dundee by road, the southern edge of the Cairngorms National Park. Here we are about 2,600 feet above sea level, at the head of Glen Clova. A good walk today.